Team Stronach

The Team Stronach, full name Team Stronach for Austria (German: Team Stronach für Österreich), was a Eurosceptic,[8][9] right-wing populist[10][11] political party in Austria founded by and named after Austrian-Canadian businessman Frank Stronach. It was dissolved in August 2017.

Team Stronach
LeaderFrank Stronach
FounderFrank Stronach
Founded27 September 2012
DissolvedAugust 2017
HeadquartersMagna Straße 1
2522 Oberwaltersdorf
Lower Austria
IdeologyClassical liberalism
Economic liberalism[1][2]
Euroscepticism[2][3]
Populism[4][5]
Political positionCentre-right[6] to right-wing[7]
European affiliationAlliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe
ColoursRed and white (national colours)
National Council
0 / 183
Federal Council
1 / 62
European Parliament
0 / 18
State Parliaments
8 / 440
Website
www.teamstronach.at

History

The new party was registered on 25 September 2012,[12] and was launched two days later.

In a Gallup poll in August 2012, it received 8% of the vote.[13] Five MPs – Gerhard Köfer of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger and Christoph Hagen of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), and independents Robert Lugar and Erich Tadler – agreed to join the party.[14][15]

Parties with at least three seats are automatically qualified to run in the forthcoming federal election.[16]

The party name, programme, and logo were decided in early September 2012.[17] Köfer has been named as the party's leading candidate for the 2013 state election in Carinthia.[18] In September's Gallup poll, it received 10% of the vote.[17][19]

At the party's campaign launch for the 2013 federal election, the party unveiled a political advertisement featuring personal endorsements for Stronach from Bill Clinton and Larry King.[20][21] By this time, the party polled between 10% and 12%.[20] After the defection of a fifth MP, Stefan Markowitz, Team Stronach was given official party status in the National Council: giving the party €1.4m of state funding and places on parliamentary committees.[22][23]

The party won 11% of the vote in the March 2013 state election in Carinthia, only narrowly falling behind The Greens and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). On the same day, Team Stronach won 10% of the vote in the Lower Austria state election, in third place. The result in Lower Austria gave Team Stronach its first seat in the Federal Council, held by Gerald Zelina.

On 29 September 2013 Team Stronach participated for the first time in the elections for the Austrian National Parliament. It got 5.73% of the votes and won 11 seats, being the fifth largest party in the new Austrian parliament.[24] The party did not contest the 2014 European parliamentary election.[25] Since the election the party has fallen considerably in the polls. On 3 June 2015, two Stronach members of parliament defected to the ÖVP, leaving the party with nine deputies.[26] In August 2017 the planned dissolution of the Team Stronach was announced for after the legislative election. Its MPs changed to the FPÖ, the FLÖ and the Whites.

Ideology

The Team Stronach supported Austria leaving the Euro currency and introducing an Austrian Euro instead.[27] An advisor of the Team Stronach suggested later in an interview with news magazine "Format" that they wanted to keep the Euro but introduce additional national currencies.[28]

Unlike some other right-wing Eurosceptic parties, Stronach was not as opposed to immigration as others.[29] The party advocated cutting bureaucracy and instituting a 25% flat-rate income tax. The Team Stronach supported ending conscription and introducing an all-volunteer army instead.[30] Stronach supported electoral reform, including the use of primary elections.[30]

Footnotes
  1. José M. Magone (2017). The Statecraft of Consensus Democracies in a Turbulent World: A Comparative Study of Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Taylor & Francis. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-315-40785-2.
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Austria". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. Haller, Patricia (8 September 2012), "Stronach für fast jeden Dritten wählbar", Kurier (in German)
  4. Dargent, Ralf (3 October 2012), ""Maischberger": Neben Österreichs Populisten ist Sarrazin ein Bube", Die Welt
  5. Hoffmann-Ostenhof, Georg (29 September 2012), "Stronach die Daumen drücken!", Profil online
  6. Oliver Gruber (2014). Campaigning in Radical Right Heartland: The politicization of immigration and ethnic relations in Austrian general elections, 1971-2013. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-643-90517-8.
  7. "Frank Stronach". Forbes. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  8. Mark Allinson (2014). Germany and Austria Since 1814. Routledge. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-4441-8652-9.
  9. Stijn van Kessel (2015). Populist Parties in Europe: Agents of Discontent?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-137-41411-3.
  10. Desirée Schmuck; Jörg Matthes; Hajo Boomgaarden (2017). "Austria: Candidate-centred and Anti-immigrant Right-wing Populism". In Toril Aalberg; Frank Esser; Carsten Reinemann; Jesper Stromback, Claes De Vreese (eds.). Populist Political Communication in Europe. Routledge. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-317-22474-7.
  11. Eric Micklin (2015). "The Austrian Parliament and EU Affairs: Gradually Living Up to its Legal Potential". In Claudia Hefftler; Christine Neuhold; Olivier Rosenberg; et al. (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of National Parliaments and the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-137-28913-1.
  12. ""Team Stronach für Österreich" als Partei angemeldet". Der Standard (in German). 25 September 2012.
  13. "Austrian magnate's new party wants to dump euro". The Irish Times. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  14. "Stronach-Partei: Gerüchte um vierten Mandatar "falsch"". Die Presse (in German). 26 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  15. "Zerfallserscheinungen beim BZÖ". Kurier (in German). 12 October 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  16. "Antritt gesichert: Stronach holt dritten Mandatar an Bord". Die Presse (in German). 23 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  17. "Stronach-Partei: Logo, Name & Personal fix". oe24.at (in German). 14 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  18. "Stronach-Partei tritt in Kärnten an, Köfer wird Spitzenkandidat". Der Standard (in German). 28 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  19. "SPÖ liegt in Umfragen klar vorne". Die Presse (in German). 17 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  20. "Billionaire launches eurosceptic party". News.com.au. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  21. Tirone, Jonathan (27 September 2012). "Stronach Leaves Thoroughbreds to Join Austrian Vote Race". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  22. "Team Stronach anerkannt: Jetzt sechs Klubs im Parlament". Die Presse (in German). 8 November 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  23. "Eurosceptic tycoon secures place in Austrian parliament". Reuters. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  24. Nationalratswahl 2013, Austrian Ministry of the Interior
  25. Tom Lansford (7 April 2015). Political Handbook of the World 2015. SAGE Publications. p. 405. ISBN 978-1-4833-7155-9.
  26. "Georg Vetter und Marcus Franz wechseln vom Team Stronach zur ÖVP - derStandard.at".
  27. Prodhan, Georgina (27 September 2012). "Eurosceptic billionaire starts Austrian election campaign". Reuters. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  28. Schuch, Astrid (15 February 2013). "Stronach-Chefberater Hankel: "Wir behalten den Euro und führen nationale Währungen ein"". Format. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  29. Shotter, James. "Stronach sets up Austrian political party".
  30. "30 Seiten "Grundsatzprogramm"", Der Standard (in German), 27 September 2012
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